Hurricane Ike pummels Texas Gulf Coast
Houston is hit hard by the huge storm, with electricity and buildings' windows blown out. Fires rage in Galveston. Rescuers search for residents trapped by flooding. Two deaths are reported.
HOUSTON -- Hurricane Ike slammed the Texas Gulf Coast early today with floods and 110-mph winds that shattered windows in downtown Houston skyscrapers and left millions without electricity.
At least two fatalities have been reported in connection with the storm. On Friday, a 10-year-old boy in Montgomery, Texas, was killed when he was hit by a falling branch as his parents were cutting down low-lying limbs in preparation for the coming storm. And as the storm churned the waters off Corpus Christi, local police officials said a 19-year-old man was swept off a jetty and believed to be drowned.
The storm weakened this morning as it continued to push across the state, and emergency and rescue crews headed back out into the high winds and streets flooded with brackish waters, navigating around hundreds of impassable roads and searching for residents still trapped by the storm.
"The unfortunate truth is we're going to have to go in . . . and put our people in the tough situation to save people who did not choose wisely. We'll probably do the largest search-and-rescue operation that's ever been conducted in the state of Texas," said Andrew Barlow, spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry.
Authorities said it could take weeks to get power restored throughout the region, but they were encouraged that the storm surge topped out at only 13.5 feet -- far lower than the catastrophic 20- to 25-foot wall of water forecasters had feared.
Adding to the region's storm woes were several house fires, some on Galveston Island, that raged throughout the night and were often impossible for fire crews to reach because of high winds and flooded streets.
Early this morning, three people who had taken shelter from the storm inside Brennan's Restaurant, including a 4-year-old girl and her 45-year-old father, were critically injured when the famous Midtown brick eatery caught fire. For hours, firefighters struggled in vain to quell the fire, but gusting winds made it impossible to save the restaurant, according to the Harris County Fire Department.
By dawn, local leaders and federal emergency officials where beginning door-to-door surveys of Harris County, to get a better handle on Ike's devastation. As the storm continued to pummel the area this morning with rain and wind, sending shattered glass and broken roof tiles flying dangerously through the air, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett pleaded with residents to stay inside and conserve water. Though there are no indications of contamination to the water supply yet, residents in the country are under an order to boil drinking water.
